May Day Labor Film Fest starts tomorrow

Labor-themed films will meet audiences in movie theaters on May 1, Turkey’s national Labor and Solidarity Day. The fourth edition of the Labor Film Festival will be held simultaneously in Istanbul, Ankara and İzmir. This year’s honorary guest will be documentary director İshak Işıtan, who has lived in Canada since the 1980s. Işıtan’s 2008 film "Brukmanlı Kadınlar" (The Women of Brukman) will be screened in the festival. The film is an inspirational story of female workers who took over a Buenos Aires men's clothing factory during Argentina's financial collapse.

The owners of the Brukman Clothing Company, facing bills, deficits and wages they can't possibly pay, shipped all of the management out without mentioning a word to the laborers. Spurred on by devotion to their craft, families and each other, the workers of Brukman decide to keep the factory running on their own. Işıktan takes us through all the stages of the workers’ struggle, with footage right in the middle of the action. He will speak with audiences in three cities after film screenings.

The festival’s opening night event will be held in Istanbul’s Beyoğlu Yeni Melek Show Center on May 2 at 7:30 p.m. As part of the ceremony, some artists will be awarded plaques. Şevval Sam and Hilmi Yarayıcı will perform labor-themed songs during the night.

The film festival was organized with the contributions of Public Houses, Turkish Cinema Workers’ Union, Revolutionist Health Laborers’ Union, United Metal Workers Union, Turkish Civil Aviation Workers’ Union, Turkish Patrol Workers’ Union and the Union of Turkish Medical Doctors.

Great miners strike
The opening of the festival will be made with the screening of the documentary "100 Bin Kişiydiler" (They Were 100 Thousand). The documentary is the story of the great miners’ strike in 1990 to 1991 from the beginning to the end, with witnesses from all sides of the events.

This year the festival will feature 50 films, including 12 feature films and 38 documentaries, from all over the world. Screenings will be held at Istanbul French Culture Center, Beyoğlu Yeşilçam Movie Theater, Istanbul Bar, Kollektif Culture Center, Istanbul Halkevi, and Kazım Koyuncu Culture Center.

Ankara screenings of the festival will be at the German Culture Center, Contemporary Arts Center, Ankara Bar and Architects Chamber. İzmir’s audiences will watch the festival films at the Dr. Selahattin Akçiçek Culture Center, Alsancak Culture Center, Gültepe Halkevi and Çiğli Halkevi. There will also be special screenings in many neighborhoods, unions and business places during the festival.

The drama of sandblasting workers
The festival will bring a hot issue to the silver screen. Two 2009 documentaries featuring the tragic conditions and deaths of sandblasting workers will meet audiences. Hundreds of sandblasting workers have contracted the deadly silicosis disease by inhaling large amounts of dust while manually sandblasting denim, often without protective gear and in small and makeshift workshops. As part of the festival, there will also be special talks with directors of documentaries and short films.

Among 27 foreign films to be shown in the festival is director of famous labor films, Ken Loach’s "It’s A Free World." The film focuses on Angie, a working class woman who, after being fired by the agency that she works for, decides to set up a recruitment agency of her own, running it from her kitchen with her friend Rose. She is able to build a successful business extremely quickly.

Iranian director Bahman Gobadhi’s multiple award-winning film, "A Time for Drunken Horses," tells the story of Ayoub, a young boy living in a village near the border of Iraq. When his father dies, he is obliged to protect his three sisters and sick brother, Madi. This heartbreaking tale shows the lengths to which a family will go in order to survive in the harshest of conditions, where even the horses are fed liquor in order to work.

"Ariel" by Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki, "The Town is Quiet" by Robert Guediguian, "Sicko" by Michael Moore, "Salt of the Earth" by Herbert Biberman, and "A Place Called Guantanamo" by Cuban director Rolando Almirante Castillo are some of the other foreign films.

Among 23 Turkish productions in the festival, "Mandolinli Kız" (The Girl with a Mandolin) tells us the story of women graduates from "Village Institutes" based on their memories about school and education.

Yavuz Özkan’s "Demiryol" (Railroad) is the story of railroad workers who are on strike. Şerif Gören’s "Almanya Acı Vatan" (Germany, Bitter Homeland) is related to the migrant Turkish workers in Germany. Duygu Sağıroğlu’s "Bitmeyen Yol" (Unending Road) tells the stories of migrant workers and their difficulties adjusting to the Istanbul lifestyle.

There will also be cinema workshops during the festival, which will end on May 7 and will be repeated in many cities throughout the year.